Transforming SAP’s new offerings from vision into value

SAP has dramatically dialled up its data and AI offerings with the launch of SAP Business Data Cloud, a partnership with Databricks, a new approach to the SAP Business Suite, and breakthrough innovations for SAP Business AI and Joule. 

The announcements, which came at SAP Business UnleashedOpens in a new window, show that SAP is positioning itself as a leader in data and AI as well as enterprise applications. But we know that in reality, driving value from these new innovations in complex legacy environments will be easier said than done. 

That’s where PwC comes in. We already have project experience with SAP Business Data Cloud, whilst we are also the largest reference worldwide with Datasphere and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)Opens in a new window. We’re here to help clients rise to the challenge.

In this blog, we’ll outline the key innovations that SAP announced, and what they mean for customers.

SAP announced updates to its SAP Business Suite, enhancing integration, cloud capabilities, and intelligent technologies such as AI and machine learning. These updates aim to improve business processes, support digital transformation, and offer greater flexibility and efficiency. SAP also emphasised its commitment to sustainability and innovation to help organisations meet environmental and operational goals.

As well as enhanced functionality and leading business processes from SAP S/4HANA, the SAP Business Suite turbocharges capabilities in HR, procurement, employee expenses and more through SAP’s cloud acquisitions (including SuccessFactorsOpens in a new window, AribaOpens in a new window and ConcurOpens in a new window).

The SAP Business Suite approach indicates SAP’s appetite to make it easier for clients to use multiple solutions seamlessly under one umbrella. This beautifully complements the approach we take here at PwC to serve our clients: providing a one-stop-shop supporting strategy development and execution across the entire value chain, aligning with leading practices and industry standards, while preparing for what is to come. We are excited to discuss this news with organisations looking to move to technologies of the future.

Just as the SAP Business Suite positions SAP as a one-stop-shop for enterprise applications, SAP aims to provide a central repository for all enterprise data through its new SAP Business Data Cloud solution. Developed in partnership with DatabricksOpens in a new window (one of the leading data platform providers), SAP Business Data Cloud unites structured and unstructured, SAP and non-SAP data. It brings together the power of SAP Datasphere, SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Business Warehouse (BW). And its set-up encourages companies to embrace reusable data products and a data mesh approach.

At a practical level, SAP Business Data Cloud aims to give customers far greater visibility into business processes, customers, the supply chain, financials etc – all in real time. There’s no more time wasted, or potential insights lost because of difficulties marrying up data from spreadsheets and disparate systems. Instead, there’s an opportunity to make everything far more efficient. That’s where the magic lies.

Companies still running SAP BW 7.5 should pay particularly close attention, because that solution is going out of support in 2027. Many organisations still rely on SAP BW to store all their critical business logic – such as controlling, KPI definitions and approval processes. This is unsurprising, because for years, BW was the only viable way to get data out of the ERP and into a data warehouse for reporting and analytics. 

Now, it’s crunch time. With end-of-maintenance for BW 7.5 fast approaching, companies must decide whether to simply move all their legacy business logic to SAP Business Data Cloud, or whether to seize the moment to rewrite their data strategy and reshape how the business works with data. It’s a classic case of migration versus transformation, and we believe many organisations will seize the opportunity to change.

Of course, SAP Business Data Cloud is brand new, so some functionality isn’t available yet, however by switching to SAP Business Data Cloud now, you can take advantage of new functionality as it’s released. Since we work closely with SAP, we have insight into current and future functionality, so we can help clients align their own roadmaps to complement SAP’s release schedule.

The bottom line? SAP's Databricks integration aims to reduce time-to-information by introducing predefined data products from various line of business solutions. We can’t wait to help clients take advantage of it.

AI is only as good as the data that underpins it. So, it makes sense that SAP has combined the launch of its SAP Business Data Cloud solution – which brings together disparate data from across the organisation – with a huge advance in its AI capabilities. SAP’s emphasis is on “agentic AI” – AI that can analyse complex data, make decisions and take action independently. In fact, Joule is orchestrating entire end-to-end business processes both independently and in conjunction with humans. For example, this might mean augmenting a customer’s payment history with third-party credit data to make better credit decisions.

SAP’s demos show just how easily clients can build and use agents using Joule (SAP’s AI-powered copilot). If you’re building a custom agent tailored to a specific business workflow, Joule Studio makes sensible suggestions about which data sets, processes and applications to connect, so you don’t have to figure out everything from scratch. 

If you’re using an agent, you can enter natural language commands, and the system helps you meet your objectives. For example, you might type in something along the lines of “I need to get a certain order out 15 hours earlier due to a change in market conditions. Help me prioritize”. Then Joule will assess the impact on business processes, profitability and costs, show you how to meet your objective, then ask whether you want to go ahead with the proposed plan. 

Of course, making all of this work will require hard work in the background, including proper governance, a robust AI agent strategy, and safeguards to ensure that AI agents deliver accurate results – particularly if they’re feeding other AI models or business processes. Here at PwC, we provide the know-how and expertise to help you harness these new AI capabilities in a safe, sensible and valuable way.

SAP has set out a bold vision that brings data, AI and enterprise applications closer together. There are game-changing capabilities in store, but customers will need to overcome some barriers to take advantage of them – including complex legacy environments, security concerns, governance and more. We look forward to working closely with our clients to cut through complexity, solve challenging problems, and turn SAP’s exciting vision into real business value.

SAP’s announcements are hot off the press, and we’ll share more information as things become clearer. Critically, as we help customers benefit from the new SAP solutions, we’ll provide insights into how other companies can replicate that success.